Parallellepipedic package

ABSTRACT

A parallelepipedic package is produced from a web of packaging material formed into a tube, into which the filling material is introduced, the tube then being pressed flat along transverse, lontitudinally spaced sealing zones so as to divide the filled tube into individual package units which are then shaped into parallelepipedic form. Triangular flaps are formed adjacent the sealed zone at one end of the package during the shaping procedure so as to develop an openable pouring spout, and these flaps are folded downwardly so as to lie against a side wall of the package and retained in place. To facilitate pouring from the spout, the same end of the package is provided with a vent hole covered by a removable protective strip.

United States Patent [1 1 Rausing 145] Mar. 5, 1974 PARALLELLEPIPEDICPACKAGE [75] Inventor: Anders Ruben Rausing, Rome, Italy [73] Assignee:Tetra Pak International AB, Lund,

Sweden [22] Filed: Nov. 19, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 200,467

[52] US. Cl. 229/7 R, 229/3.5 MF, 229/14 BL, 229/17 R, 229/51 D [51]Int. Cl 1365i! 5/70, 865d 5/54, B65d 5/56 [58] Field of Search... 229/7R, 17 R, 51 AS, 51 D, 229/3.5 MF, 14 BL; 206/65 T [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,347,444 10/1967 Rausing et al. 229/17 R3,101,879 8/1963 Meyer-Jagenberg... 229/7 R 3,361,611 l/l968 Stark 229/7R 3,458,111 7/1969 Leasure et a1. 229/17 R 3,650,458 3/1972 Rausing229/17 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,062,809 3/1967 Great Britain229/17 R 7/1966 Great Britain 229/17 R l/1956 Australia 206/65 T PrimaryExaminer-William 1. Price Assistant ExaminerStephen Marcus Attorney,Agent, or FirmPierce Scheffler & Parker [5 7] ABSTRACT Aparallelepipedic package is produced from a web of packaging materialformed into a tube, into which the filling material is introduced, thetube then being vpressed flat along transverse, lontitudinally spacedsealing zones so as to divide the filled tube into individual packageunits which are then shaped into parallelepipedic form. Triangular flapsare formed adjacent the sealed zone at one end of the package during theshaping procedure so as to develop an openable pouring spout, and theseflaps are folded downwardly so as to lie against a side wall of thepackage and retained in place. To facilitate pouring from the spout, thesame end of the package is provided with a vent hole covered by aremovable protective strip.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 PARALLELLEPIPEDIC PACKAGE The presentinvention relates to a parallelepipedic package consisting of aflexible, relatively stiff carton material of the type produced from aweb of such carton material which is formed into a tube and filled withgoods and then pressed flat and sealed along relatively narrow spacedsealing zones at right angles to the axis of the tube. At the same timea column of the goods to be filled is subdivided, so that individualpackage units are filled which are then subjected to a shaping processin the course of which the package units are given a parallelepipedicshape and are provided with twinwalled triangular flaps which areconnected with the package at the ends of the four side walls which areformed during shaping. The package units or the shaped packages areseparated by cutting through the said sealing zones in such a mannerthat sealing tabs extending across and beyond the upper and lower endwalls of the shaped package and along one sideof the said triangularflaps are formed, at least the sealing tab extendingacross the upper endwall being substantially folded down against the adjacent side walltogether with the triangular flaps.

Parallelepipedic packages of this type have been used for a long timefor packaging of solid, powdery or granular goods as well as liquidgoods. These packages are, in addition, becoming progressively popularsince this method of packaging goods and the type of package itself arefor many reasons preferable, and have proved to be advantageous and havecome to satisfy a requirement which is particularly notable whenpackaging liquid goods such as flowing dairy products. However it hasbeen shown that the packages of this type hitherto used are not entirelysatisfactory as regards opening and also pouring since it has proveddifficult to find an opening arrangement which is convenient, can beeasily opened up while at the same time making it easy to pour out thecontents without causing any spillage, the said opening arrangement atthe same time meeting the requirement that it must be air tight prior toopening of the package and can withstand normal stresses duringmanipulation and transportation without any leakage. Hence there is arequirement for being able to open these packages easily without risk ofchurning or spillage. The packages in current use are normally opened byremoving a strip which is provided on the package wall and can be tornaway from the package wall so as to expose a discharge hole or bytearing open a part of the package along a weakened tear line preparedin the packaging material. Since the packages are entirely filled withthe packaged goods it has also proved practically impossible to preventthe goods issuing out of the package when the latter is handled with aview to opening it, which must be regarded as disadvantageous, at leastfrom a hygenic point of view. a

The package in accordance with the invention has been designed with theaim of retaining the unique properties of this type of package while atthe same time bringing about a package which can easily be openedwithout danger of spilling the goods while manipulating the package witha view to opening it, it being a further aim of the invention to providefor easy and reliable opening and the emptying of the package by pouringits contents in a well concentrated, directly forward stream and withoutthe disadvantages of churning and spillage. From the point of view ofpro- 2 duction, the package is, in addition, still relatively as simpleand functional, bearing in mind the changes in package design due toproposed improvements.

The package in accordance with the invention is characterized herein inthat one of the triangular flaps situated at the upper end wall, whichis designed to act as the discharge spout of the package has a separableend, and in that an air hole which can be covered with a removable coverstrip is provided in the upper end wall of the package at a distancefrom the triangular flap acting as a discharge spout and in that atleast some of the side walls of the package are slightly inward curvingbut so arranged that when the cover strip is torn off and the packageopened they will instead curve slightly outward from the package.

In the following description further characteristics and advantages ofthe invention will emerge, reference being made to the attacheddiagrammatic drawings in which 1 FIG. 1 shows in perspective an unopenedparallelepipedic package forming an embodiment of the inventron;

FIG. 2 shows from the side the upper part of an opened package inaccordance with FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows the opening flap of the package in the position shown inFIG. 1.

A parallelepipedic package of the type here stated is usually producedfrom a web type base material consisting of paper or paper lined withplastic on both sides or a combination of paper and a metal foil with anintermediate plastic layer. The package is produced by first forming thecarton material into a tube, whereupon the tube is subdivided, bypressing flat and transversely sealing along narrow transverse zones,into cushion-like packages which are separated by cutting through thesaid transverse sealing zones, the contents of a package being locatedbetween two transverse seals following on one another. The finalparallelepipedic shape can be imparted before or after separation of thepackages by cutting through the transverse sealing zones. The excessmaterial, which for geometric reasons cannot be included in the saidparallelepipedic package shape a substantially triangular so that,twinwalled corner flaps are formed which project flaps at one end of thepackage, as a rule the opening end, and are normally sealed against theside wall of the package adjacent the flap concerned, whereas the flapsprojecting from the lower end of the package are as a rule sealedagainst the adjacent lower end wall.

With the package design as described above, the package shown in FIG. 1is provided with side wall 1 and 2 as well as an upper end wall 3. Abovethe end walls is located tab 4 which is formed during the sealing stageand which is folded down towards the end wall 3. The tab 4 extends alongthe two upper twin-walled, triangular flaps 5 formed during the shapingstage, only one of which is shown in the figure. The tab at the otherend wall is folded inward against the respective adjacent end wall sidewalls. The twin-walled flap 5 shown in the figure may therefore be saidto have an outer wall and an inner wall, whereby the outer wall isconstituted by a part of end wall 3 which is extended because of excessmaterial, whereas the inner wall consists of a part of side wall 2,extended because of excess material.

The flap 5 is designed to constitute a discharge opening of the package,whereby the flap which is preferably folded down towards the side wall2, may be raised to form a discharge spout as shown in FIG. 2. The outerpart of the flap 5 forms an end 6 so designed that it can be removedfrom the flap thus forming a discharge opening, the flap being providedwith a weakened tear line 7 formed by perforations passing only partlythrough the carton material. In addition, the end wall 3 with which flap5 is connected has a cover strip 8 capable of being torn off, whichcovers a vent hole 9 situated in the end wall.

A parallelepipedic package in accordance with the invention and producedof the said carton material is to a certain extent dimensionally stable,i.e. the 12 edges of the package act as a frame or skeleton on which theside and end walls form diaphragm like elements. By causing the packageflaps 5 to lie against the adjacent package walls a further improvementin dimensional stability is achieved without any significant reductionin the diaphragm action of the side walls. If the package in accordancewith the invention is kept compressed to a certain extent before andduring its sealing, the package will not be filled to its maximumvolume. That is to say while the package is being "sealed at least someof its side walls which are being formed are subjected to an externalinwardly directed pressure the said wall or walls are caused by bucklingto limit the internal package volume which is less than the maximumvolumetric capacity of the parallelepipedic package which is beingformed. In spite of the fact that the material in the package is notparticularly resilient, the side walls having been pressed inward obtainthe capacity of again resuming a position of equilibrium. Since thesealing tabs 4 formed during the shaping of the package are foldeddownwardly against the end wall 3 and against the triangular flaps 5located against the end wall, that part 13 of the end wall 3 from facingaway the sealing tab, will, owing to the flexibility of the packagedmaterial, be disposed in a somewhat higher plane of the packageconfiguration than the other part 14 of the end wall. Folding downwardof the sealing tab 4 is brought about by folding the flaps 5 downagainst the adjacent side wall where they are preferably sealed.

The end 6 of flap 5 shown in the figure is provided, with a perforationline 7 which is torn when the package is opened. In this connection itwill be noted that the tear lines start from a common point a located onthe inner side of flap 5 which faces the package and at a distance fromthe base line 11 of sealing tab 4, and pass through preferablysymmetrical points b and c situated along the free side edges of theflap 5 and end in the section of tab 4 which extends over that flap,near the base line of the tab or the free edge 12 of the tab. The tearline 7 takes a preferably straight course between the said points in thepackaged material but it is of course also possible for the tear line topass along a curved line leading to the said points. The tear line 7 ispreferably provided in the package material during its formation, eitherbefore or after application of a coating layer to the web of basematerial. After raising the opening flap 5 and pressing the flap wallstogether, the tear line; should be inclined to the horizontal plane oftop of the package at an angle of at least 20, thus ensuring that thedischarge opening 15 formed after re moval of the end 6, will besufficiently large and will have a proper a position of the pouring edgeto ensure even pouring of the contents in a well concentrated, directlyforward jet, and will have an opening which is entirely restricted toflap 5. However, in this position the tear line 7 should preferably beat an angle between 45 and to the top of the package in order to ensuresatisfactory pouring as intended.

The discharge opening 15 of the package, see FIG. 2,

is thus obtained after raising of flap 5 and by removal of the end 6which is brought about by taking the end 6 of the flap between thumb andfinger on the inside of the tear line 7, and tearing off the end 6. Bycomparison with earlier packages of this type, one advantage of openingthe package in accordance with the invention should be specially noted,i.e. that during tearing of the end 6 only a part of the flap itself isremoved and that tearing of the carton material is effected over arelatively short distance so that the grip required for removal of theend 6 is simple and tearing itself can be effectd easily. This conditionis accentuated if the tear line 7 extends so that tearing the end 6 isalong a straight line.

' As statedabove, the upper end wall of the package is provided with anair hole 9, in order to ensure that the contents of the package may bepoured in an uninterrupted, even jet. The air hole is covered with astrip 8, which is sealed against a thermoplastic film covering the airhole 9. The thermoplastic film may consist of an inner liner provided inthe package. To provide a package with an inner thermoplastic layer hasthe advantages that the'material as such is impermeable to liquid andresults in liquid-proof seals which are formed simply by pressing twoadjacent material surfaces having thermoplastic linings against eachother while applying heat, as a result of which the adjacent linings arefused together along the heated zones. If it is regarded as moreadvantageous to glue the sealing joints in the package, this is ofcourse also possible. With such packages it is also customary to providethe outside of the package material with a thermoplastic layer. Ofcourse, the air hole may be covered with both an inner lining and anouter layer whereby the layers of are fused together or by by means of alaminated layer lining the surface of the package material, such as acombined thermoplastic metal foil layer.

The air hole 9 in the package may be provided in the carton materialduring its formation, already before the lining layer is applied.However, the air hole is preferably provided after formation of thecarton material. This may be effected by either punching through theentire thickness of the carton material so that the hole will be closedby thermoplastic lining, or by punching only to such a depth that thelining remains unperforated, whereupon the perforated layer is removed.

The cover strip 8 which may consist e.g. of wearresistant paper,plastic, metal foil or a combination of these materials may be sealedover the air hole 9 before the web is converted to tubular form. Thecover strip may of course also be sealed to the end wall in the areasurrounding the air hole. A part of the cover strip maybe not be firmlyattached to the package wall in order to provide a gripping flap 10which can be used for exposing the air hole 9, by pulling strips offwhen opening the package.

When the package is to be opened, the cover strip 8 provided over theair hole 9 is first removed from the package, whereby any layer orlayers covering the air hole are removed simultaneously. As the result,air enters the package and the walls of the package bulge outwardly inFIG. 2. so that the inner volume of the package is increased, which inturn causes the level of the contents in the package to drop. If thepackage has been kept in a compressed state during its sealing as notedabove the inner volume of the package will be restricted to a valuebelow the maximum capacity of the package, and the level of the contentswill of course descend when the air hole is exposed. This is ofimportance when the package is to be emptied since none of the packagedgoods can, as a result, issue from the air hole when the package ishandled while it is opened and held at an angle to pour out the packagedgoods.

By locating the air hole 9 as far as possible from the dischargeopening, it will be more certain that none of the contents issue throughthe air hole during the handling and pouring operation, see FIG. 1. Inthis connec-. tion it is advantageous to locate the air hole in section13 of the end wall 3 so that the air hole is located somewhat higher andis thus further removed from the level of the contents than if the airhole is provided in the section 14 of the end wall.

If the air hole 9 and the strip 8 are provided on the carton materialduring its production, and the package material is then rolled up, adisadvantage arises if the air hole and its cover strip are providedunsymmetrically on the package material web, in relation to its webedges. The thickness of the cover strip in particular causesdiscontinuities in the roll of carton material, which in turn result ina continuous displacement of the web of carton material by rolling uptowards one side of the roll thus forming a slanting, substantiallytapering roll. For this reason it may therefore be preferable to providethe air hole 9 and at the same time the cover strip 8 symmetrically onthe carton material web. However, it should be stressed in thisconnection that packages of the present type are normally formed from acarton material web in such a way that if eg an air hole is locatedsymmetrically on the package material web, the hole will also be locatedin a substantiallysymmetrical position on the finished package.

A further advantage of the present package consists in that it can bereclosed in a relatively satisfactory manner. As stated previously onlythe end 6 of the flap 5 is removed during opening of the package, thusthe package can be reclosed by rolling up or folding the remaining flapmaterial so as to form a sharp edge, preferably parallel to the end wall3.

Without exceeding the scope of the inventive idea, modifications of theillustrated and described package may be possible. Hence, the inventionis not limited by the illustrated and described embodiment but only bythe following claims.

I claim:

1. A package composed of a flexible, relatively stiff carton materialand having a substantially parallelepiped shape comprising side wallsprovided with upward extensions, the extensions of the front and backwalls being brought together and secured along a zone adjacent theirupper edges to form a tab extending across the top of the package-andbeyond the lateral sides thereof, the lateral ends of said tab beingfolded down so that the front and back extensions form the top of thepackage, and so that twin-walled triangular flaps are formed extendinglaterally and outwardly from the top of the package, said flaps beingfolded downwardly against the outside of the side walls of the package,one of said twin-walled triangular flaps being provided with weakenedtear lines adjacent the outer end thereof to permit the end portion ofsaid flap to be removed after raising said flap upwardly, thus providinga pouring spout when the said flap is raised to open the package saidweakened tear lines extending from a central point of the inner wall ofsaid flap symmetrically outward to the outer edges of said flap and thenobliquely inwardly along the outer wall of said flap toward said tab,said inwardly extending tear lines terminating near the free edge ofthat portion of said tab which overlies said flap, a vent hole providedin the top of the package and removable means for covering said venthole, the side walls of the package being flexibly depressed inwardlywhen the package was filled and sealed so that the level of contents ofthe package is higher than if the package had vertical walls, wherebywhen the covering means is removed from the vent hole at least one ofthe package walls will flex outwardly and the contents will have a lowerlevel in the package than prior to opening the package and when saidflap is raised the end portion thereof may be removed to provide apouring spout for removing the contents without spillage.

2. A package as claimed in claim 1 wherein said weakened tear linescomprises perforations extending only through a portion of the cartonmaterial of the flap.

3. A package as claimed in claim 1 wherein said vent hole is provided inthe carton material of the top of the package and wherein said packagefurther comprises at least a partial thermoplastic inner lining which atleast covers and seals said vent hole, said removable Cover means beingsecured to said at least partial thermoplastic inner lining in the areaof the vent hole for removal thereof when the package is opened.

4. A package as claimed in claim 3 wherein said at least partialthermoplastic inner lining includes a metal foil layer.

5. A package as claimed in claim 3 wherein said package furthercomprises at least a partial thermoplastic outer lining which is sealedto said at least partial inner lining in the area of the vent hole forsealing said vent hole, said removable cover means being secured to saidat least partial outer lining in the area of the vent hole for removalin that area of said at least partial outer lining and said at leastpartial inner lining when the package is opened.

1. A package composed of a flexible, relatively stiff carton materialand having a substantially parallelepiped shape comprising side wallsprovided with upward extensions, the extensions of the front and backwalls being brought together and secured along a zone adjacent theirupper edges to form a tab extending across the top of the package andbeyond the lateral sides thereof, the lateral ends of said tab beingfolded down so that the front and back extensions form the top of thepackage, and so that twin-walled triangular flaps are formed extendinglaterally and outwardly from the top of the package, said flaps beingfolded downwardly against the outside of the side walls of the package,one of said twin-walled triangular flaps being provided with weakenedtear lines adjacent the outer end thereof to permit the end portion ofsaid flap to be removed after raising said flap upwardly, thus providinga pouring spout when the said flap is raised to open the package saidweakened tear lines extending from a central point of the inner wall ofsaid flap symmetrically outward to the outer edges of said flap and thenobliquely inwardly along the outer wall of said flap toward said tab,said inwardly extending tear lines terminating near the free edge ofthat portion of said tab which overlies said flap, a vent hole providedin the top of the package and removable means for covering said venthole, the side walls of the package being flexibly depressed inwardlywhen the package was filled and sealed so that the level of contents ofthe package is higher than if the package had vertical walls, wherebywhen the covering means is removed from the vent hole at least one ofthe package walls will flex outwardly and the conTents will have a lowerlevel in the package than prior to opening the package and when saidflap is raised the end portion thereof may be removed to provide apouring spout for removing the contents without spillage.
 2. A packageas claimed in claim 1 wherein said weakened tear lines comprisesperforations extending only through a portion of the carton material ofthe flap.
 3. A package as claimed in claim 1 wherein said vent hole isprovided in the carton material of the top of the package and whereinsaid package further comprises at least a partial thermoplastic innerlining which at least covers and seals said vent hole, said removablecover means being secured to said at least partial thermoplastic innerlining in the area of the vent hole for removal thereof when the packageis opened.
 4. A package as claimed in claim 3 wherein said at leastpartial thermoplastic inner lining includes a metal foil layer.
 5. Apackage as claimed in claim 3 wherein said package further comprises atleast a partial thermoplastic outer lining which is sealed to said atleast partial inner lining in the area of the vent hole for sealing saidvent hole, said removable cover means being secured to said at leastpartial outer lining in the area of the vent hole for removal in thatarea of said at least partial outer lining and said at least partialinner lining when the package is opened.